Men's Six Nations 2026, Week One
Sixmas is here, on a Thursday night to avoid clashing with the Winter Olympics opening ceremony. For every team there are questions, France have left out some big names and Atonio has been forced to retire after a heart attack. Ireland have all new props and a reworked back line, largely thanks to injuries. England are also missing a lot of props. Wales have a reworked squad, again. Italy have too many injuries in places that they’re short of depth. There’s a sense that Scotland have to deliver now or Townsend will be fired. What will the matches reveal? France v Ireland Before the match there was an additional question here, would Dupont and Jalibert manage to work well together. Happily for anyone who isn’t Irish, the answer to that seems to be yes. I would say that about 20-25% of the time when Dupont could have done something, he passed to Jalibert instead, and trusted him to make a decision about what to do. Jalibert, likewise, probably got about 66% of the ball he might expect ...